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Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication Page
General Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations for key references
Guide to abbreviations used in text
Allen Dunning's numbered Guide to the Ring's Musical Motifs
Detailed Table of Contents

The Ring

Introduction


References
Appendix I
Appendix I I

Key Colour Coding

Donations Welcome

I would be grateful for donations of any size, small or large, to help defray the cost (1) of maintaining this website, (2) and to finance my past and present research which produced my book posted here, Volume One of "The Wound That Will Never Heal," and my forthcoming revision of Volume One (to be submitted for publication), and completion of Volume Two on Wagner's six other canonic operas and music-dramas. I sacrificed at least seven years of paid employment and incurred debts to complete this project, and am currently unemployed, so I thank you in advance for any financial help you can provide. Your friend, Paul Heise.

[[#125]] Siegfried has re-forged the sword Nothung: Nothung triumphant

(#125’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; Wagner employed #125 in his Siegfried Idyll.)

“Siegfried: (#124>>) Though once in twain I forced you together, no blow shall ever break you again.

 

Mime: (#123/#124/#41) For him [Mime] shall others mine the eternal treasure.

 

Siegfried: (#124>>) The steel sprang apart in the hands of my dying father; his living son (#123) has made it anew: on him its brilliant sheen now shines, for him its keen-edged blade cuts cleanly.

 

Mime: (#41 shortened >>) Mime the valiant, Mime is king, (#123>>) prince of the elves, lord of the universe!

 

Siegfried: (brandishing the sword in front of him: #119) Nothung! Nothung! Fearsome sword! (#57 or #109?) I’ve wakened you to life again. You lay there, dead, in ruins; [[ #125 ]] now you glisten defiant and glorious. [[ #125 ]]

Mime: Hey, Mime, how did you manage! Whoever would have thought it?

 

Siegfried: To felons show your shining blade! [[ #125 ]] Slay him who is false (#120) and fell the offender! (#103 Fragment) See, Mime, you smith: (he raises the sword to strike a blow: #57) thus severs Siegfried’s sword!

 

(#103/#109/#57 varis: He strikes the anvil, which splits from top to bottom and falls apart with a loud crash. Mime, who has climbed on to a stool in his delight, falls to the ground in terror, landing in a sitting position. Siegfried holds the sword aloft. The curtain falls.)”

 

[[#126ab]] Existential Fear (Fafner) – the basis of religious faith and social stability

Fear is the ground of the social contract, religious faith and tradition: it is the basis for man’s desire for property, possessions, security, freedom from care, social stability and quiet, knowledge and power which insures our survival,